People

Aerospace engineer Marc Foulkrod had no intention of getting involved in marketing when he was tapped to help a fledgling aircraft charter/management firm called Avjet in 1981. After college, he served as a performance-engineering specialist for Boeing and McDonnell Douglas before joining cargo carrier Flying Tigers.

Larry Flynn communicates well to large groups and knows how to control the room during press conferences, even when the main language spoken is not his own. General Dynamics undoubtedly took note of that talent when it named him president of Gulfstream in 2011.

When he launched his FUBU clothing line in 1992, Daymond John was a 23-year-old waiter and taxi driver with no college education, no business training, no manufacturing operation, no contracts with retailers and no money to speak of.

Dagmar Grossmann’s first experience of what was then Czechoslovakia was anything but an auspicious prelude to her subsequent emergence as a private aviation pioneer in that country. It was 1967, the year before the so-called Prague Spring and revolution was in the air.

Deanna White, the new president of Bombardier-owned fractional provider Flexjet, told us her company will continue to pursue what she called a “stealth wealth” clientele while offering customized solutions to clients’ private air travel needs. Doing so, she added, may require bringing more capital into the business from Bombardier or “some other facility.”

Herb Kohler, Jr., the chairman and CEO of Kohler Company, likes to make good use of every minute. So when he learned that he’d be flying out of White Plains, N.Y., on the day I wanted to interview him, he suggested that we meet at the airport and have our talk in the air, en route to Teterboro [N.J.] Airport. He dropped me off there before flying home to Wisconsin.

When you get into the larger aircraft it becomes like a hotel, with dozens of staff supporting the plane based in a galley area down below. You have very comprehensive cooking facilities, and on larger aircraft we have looked at theatres, with spiral staircases and a Steinway grand piano.

It’s not every day you get to share sushi and spring rolls with one of the world’s most iconic actors, and I have dined out on the story ever since. Though John Travolta and I were hunched over a low table and the wasabi dip was making my eyes stream, I felt entirely at ease thanks to his friendly, down-to-earth manner–which perhaps explains some of his phenomenal success.

Quote/Unquote

“"Many years ago, our company founder, Al Conklin, sold a new twin-engine business aircraft to a very successful entrepreneur. He had established a bit of a rapport with the individual and, after the sale, asked him straight out, 'How can you justify the cost of this airplane?' His reply? 'What is the cost of a divorce?'"–David Wyndham, president, Conklin & de Decker”